Echoes of the Past
by JediMaster-Jen
Summary: AU; Patrick has never really understood what it means to be a Scorpio. He's about to.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Echoes of the Past

/

**Summary:** Patrick Drake has never really understood what being a Scorpio means. He's about to find out.

/

**Disclaimer:** I do not own General Hospital, One Life to Live, All My Children, Days of our Lives or any of their characters. All original characters are my own creations.

/

**Prologue**

/

**Port Charles, NY**

**St. Mark's Cemetery**

**March 29, 2000**

/

It was a cold morning in upstate New York. The cemetery sat alongside the picturesque Port Charles River. The early-morning fog hadn't yet lifted and fresh snow crunched beneath the feet of the cemetery's only visitor.

The young man knelt down before a memorial; it couldn't really be called a grave since there were no bodies buried there. He placed a fresh bouquet of white roses against the granite memorial. Gently he reached out a gloved hand and traced the names.

_Scorpio_

_Robert Xavier and Anna Marie_

_Beloved Parents and Friends_

_Gone, But Never Forgotten_

"I miss you guys," he said softly. "It's been…eight years today that we all lost you. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and sometimes it…it feels like every one of the eight years it's been. I'm sorry this is…I never meant for it to take eight years for me to come here. I'm sorry, Mom. Dad, I know you'll understand why a lot better than you will, Mom. I just…you were gone and I didn't see the point. I'll be honest, I still don't, but…I don't know why but I was having a hard time this morning. I woke up thinking about you both and thought maybe coming here, finally, might do the trick."

"Did it?" called a voice from behind him.

Robert Scorpio Jr. didn't need to turn around to know it was his twin sister. He would know Robin's voice anywhere.

He stood so as to give Robin room to place her flowers on the memorial. She knelt down to do just that, then kissed her fingers and rested them for a moment on their parents' names.

"I miss you both and love you so much," she whispered and Robert, RJ, knew she was crying. He reached down and helped her stand.

Robin wrapped her arms around her tall brother who so resembled their father. "Sometimes I still don't believe this is all that's left of them."

RJ held her tightly against him. He could feel her shaking, both from the cold morning air as well as her grief. He missed their parents, but Robin still had such acute grief over their deaths that it staggered her at times. He'd long since passed the stage of paralyzing grief and had a hard time processing why Robin still held on so tightly.

"You gotta find a way to let this go, big sister," RJ said softly. "It's been _eight_ years, Robin and you're still…still paralyzed by grief."

Robin pulled away a bit. This was the divide between her and her brother. She held on while he had let go from nearly the first moment. She remembered back when their father had first told them he was going after their mother and Faison. She'd believed her father when he said he was coming home and bringing their mother with him. But she remembered the look on RJ's face when their dad had told him to hold down the fort until he returned. RJ had known then. Somehow he'd known they'd never see their parents again, and at not yet fourteen years old, he'd let them go. She'd watched as he hugged their father, accepted his kiss on the forehead and then sighed with the knowledge that he'd be the only Robert Scorpio left in the world. She knew he missed them and thought about them; this morning told her that even if she hadn't already known. But he hadn't lived the past eight years the way she had; grasping tightly to every _might have been_. He only lived for what was, and what would come.

"You haven't lost as much," she said softly.

RJ sighed. "Robin, I know losing them affected you in a different way. It affected everything you've done for eight years. I _know_ you needed them when Stone…"

She pulled away completely then. "You don't get to mention Stone. You didn't…"

"I didn't what?! RJ yelled loudly, now frustrated. "I didn't love Stone, too? Maybe not like you did, but he was my brother in all but blood, Robin. I sat there with you and Sonny and watched him die, too. I watched him slip away from us. I watched him blame himself when you told him about being HIV positive. I listened when you cried for Mom and Dad every night. You don't get to accuse me just because I dealt with it all differently."

Tears were cascading down her cheeks. "I know."

Hearing her broken whisper just about tore his heart in two. They had other siblings, but the bond between them was special. When she hurt, he hurt. When he needed someone, she was there.

"Look at me," he said as he held her upper arms. "I understand that losing our parents and then losing Stone was so hard for you. I get it, I really do and you have no idea how much I wished then that they had been here for you. I didn't know how to help you and neither did Mac. I'm just saying that you have a good life now, Robin. You're gonna graduate from Yale and go to medical school. You're a _terrific_ mother to Justin. You have to let the past go. You have to keep it where it belongs; behind you. Coming here every year on this anniversary or on their birthdays or…none of it brings them back, Rob. They're gone, but you're still here."

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I know. In my head, I know everything you're saying is true, but in my heart it's…a little more difficult."

RJ nodded. "I know, but you'll get there. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and stop…stop looking back."

She took a deep breath and took one last look at the memorial before nodding her head. She reached her fingers down and traced their names one last time.

"Goodbye," she whispered as she grasped RJ's hand and walked out of the cemetery with him.

As the two eldest Scorpio siblings left, neither noticed the pair of eyes that watched them, hidden from view in the dense fog.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

/

**Nearly Nine Years Later**

**Drake Residence**

**December 24, 2008**

/

RJ Scorpio, now thirty years old and a police detective, knocked on the door of the home his twin sister shared with her husband, Dr. Patrick Drake.

"I got it," called Matt Hunter, Patrick's younger half-brother.

"Hey man, come on in," he greeted RJ. "Everybody else is already here."

RJ shook the light snow from his dark blonde hair before taking off his coat and hanging it up.

"Uncle RJ!" screeched thirteen-year old Justin Scorpio-Cates, Robin's son.

"Hey, kid," RJ said as he grabbed the teenager in a tight hug. It still amazed him at times how much Justin resembled his father, Stone; same dark hair, same dark eyes and the same attitude even though Justin had no memory of the man himself.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Matt asked.

Justin smiled a brilliant, purely Scorpio smile. "No way, Uncle Matt, I'm glad you're here too."

Justin adored both his stepfather and step-uncle, now. At first, Justin wasn't willing to accept anyone in his mother's life if it wasn't Jason Morgan, whom Justin believed walked on water. Slowly, and with a persistence that RJ respected, Patrick had broken down Justin's Scorpio walls and pushed his way through. Now, the two were pals, and on occasion, RJ had heard his nephew call Patrick "Dad".

"Hey, little brother, glad you could make it," Robin said as she entered the living room with their younger brothers Sean and James.

RJ smiled as he moved forward to hug his sister. "No place I'd rather be on Christmas Eve."

"Hey bro," Sean said as he moved forward to hug his hero, his elder brother.

RJ grabbed his twenty-five-year old brother in a strong hug. For two people not related biologically, Sean and RJ looked remarkably alike. They both had dark blonde hair and blue eyes and stood at the height of 6'1.

Sean was in fact the biological son of Luke Spencer and RJ's former stepmother, Holly Sutton. Sean had been born when Luke was still thought to have died in an avalanche and RJ's father Robert intended to raise Sean as his own. When Luke came back and found out that Holly and Robert had married he had been angry and unwilling to hear what they had to say. RJ remembered his father telling him years later that Luke had expressed regret over his decision, but by that time he and Laura were raising Nik and had already had Lucky and Luke didn't want to disrupt Sean's life, so he remained a Scorpio.

"I think you get taller every time I see you," RJ quipped. "You too, Jamie."

Jamie Scorpio, born James Ian Lavery, laughed. Jamie had been born to RJ's mother and stepfather, Duke and Anna, in 1988, just over a year after Robert and Sean had returned to Port Charles after Holly's death in a plane crash. Jamie hadn't had a chance to ever really know Duke, but RJ couldn't help but think Jamie had a better upbringing as Robert Scorpio's son, even if it was short-lived.

"Missed ya, big brother," Jamie said as he also grabbed RJ in a hug.

"Missed you, too," RJ returned. "How's school going?"

Before he could answer, Patrick walked into the room holding his month-old daughter, Emma. RJ's eyes lit up. He'd been out of town and this was the first time he'd seen his brand new niece.

He took her from Patrick and sat down on the couch. "She's…wow."

Robin smiled as Patrick wrapped her in his arms. "Her baptism is next month. Patrick and I talked and we want you to…"

Patrick picked it up. "…be her godfather."

RJ was stunned. "I don't…I don't know what to say."

Patrick smiled at his brother-in-law. "Say yes."

RJ nodded. "Okay. Yes."

/

Dinner was in full swing. The entire Scorpio-Drake clan was laughing and talking together. Mac, Felecia, Maxie and Georgie had arrived just after RJ had agreed to be Emma's godfather. Maxie's boyfriend Jesse Beaudry had accompanied them. Robin liked Jesse. He was twenty-three years old and a cop like RJ and Lucky. Robin was happy for her cousin. Maxie had been through so much in her young life that Robin was grateful to Jesse for making her smile again.

Thirteen-year old Georgie and Justin were having fun together. The cousins got along great and enjoyed a lot of the same things and had many of the same friends, especially Dillon Quartermaine. Robin knew her young cousin has a crush on the Quartermaine boy and she suspected that Dillon felt the same, yet would never admit it.

Robin loved watching her Uncle Mac with "his girls". Maxie wasn't his biologically, but he loved her no less than he did Georgie, his child with Felicia. In his mind, both girls were his and both were Scorpio's through and through.

Patrick watched Robin as she watched her family. He loved seeing her happy and she was never happier than when her family was around. He was beyond thankful that she included him, Matt and their father Noah in that familial equation.

"So, Mac, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Patrick asked his de-facto father-in-law.

Mac liked Patrick. Oh, he hadn't at first, but the young man had grown on him, particularly by way of his treatment of Justin. Patrick was a stand-up man who adored Robin and Mac had no doubt that he would protect her, Justin and Emma with his life.

"Opening presents with Felecia and the girls," came his easy answer.

"Is…Uncle Frisco coming home?" Robin asked gently.

Maxie flinched visibly. Jesse rested a hand on her forearm. They'd had long talks about their families and he knew how she felt about her biological father.

Felecia glanced at her eldest daughter before answering. "He's going to…to try. He's on assignment…somewhere. I haven't actually spoken to him in a couple of months."

Mac hated what mention of Frisco Jones did to Maxie. He hated what Frisco's continual absence did to Maxie. The girl was torn apart every time Frisco showed up for a few days then turned around and left without so much as a goodbye usually.

"What about you, RJ?" Sean changed the subject, trying to cut the tension.

RJ shrugged. "I'm, ah, working tomorrow."

Mac frowned at his nephew. "You're not scheduled to work Christmas."

RJ cleared his throat. "Yeah, I know. I volunteered."

"Why?" Robin questioned her twin brother. "You're supposed to be here with us tomorrow. You've been out of town for two months and now…"

"I know, Robin," RJ cut her off. "Look, Lucky was supposed to work tomorrow. He wants to spend Christmas with Elizabeth, Cam and Jake. I overheard him on the phone yesterday apologizing to her about having to work so I told him I'd work for him."

"But, Lucky's just a _beat_ cop," Jamie commented. "No offense, Jesse."

Jesse laughed. "None taken."

RJ smiled. "Yes, and tomorrow I'll be covering his beat with Jesse."

Patrick laughed. "I can't picture Detective Scorpio walking the beat."

"I used to," RJ told him. "Just because Mac is the Police Commissioner doesn't mean I got to skip the intro work."

"I wanna be a cop when I grow up, too," Justin tossed in. "I'll kick the crap out of the criminals."

Everyone laughed at his declaration.

"Spoken like a true Scorpio," Jamie told his nephew.

Conversation went back and forth as the Scorpio-Drake family consumed Christmas dinner. They were lively, animated and above all, happy to all be together for the holidays. There were members of the family missing, but they were remembered.

/

Hours later, Mac, Felecia and the girls had left for the night. Jesse had headed home. Sean and Matt had left together; each young man headed out to Jake's for some late-night billiards. Jamie had gone upstairs to the guest room to turn in while Justin was in his room playing video games and Robin was readying Emma for bed.

RJ and Patrick were sitting in the livingroom, each man with a beer in hand.

"So, you were gone for two months," Patrick started. "Where'd you go?"

RJ took a long swig of his beer. "I went…a lot of places. Some were interesting and some were…less so."

"What does that even mean?"

Again, RJ shrugged. "It means I was…traipsing through the past."

"Who's past?" came Robin's voice from the staircase.

"Mine," RJ answered as Robin took a seat next to her husband. "Yours. Mom and Dad."

Patrick and Robin shared a look. RJ wasn't one for the past.

"Why?"

RJ downed the last of his beer and then stood up. He reached into the front pocket of his black jeans and pulled out a post card. He handed it to Robin.

"This is why," he said as he sat back down. "I received that in the mail two months ago."

Robin looked at the front of the post card and saw San Remo. It was the same small coastal town in Italy where their parents had first been married.

"Who did this come from?"

RJ shook his head. "I don't know; there's no name and no return address. But, there was something attached to the back with a few words. Take a look."

Robin flipped it over and her eyes zeroed in on the small puzzle piece taped to the back and noticed the words written there. _Don't you just love puzzles_.

The Scorpio siblings' eyes met and held.

"It…this doesn't make any sense, RJ," she whispered softly. "Does Uncle Mac know about this?"

"No, I didn't tell him," RJ revealed.

Patrick jumped in then. "Tell him what? Where the hell is San Remo and what does it have to do with the two of you?"

If RJ was surprised that Patrick didn't already have the answers to those questions, he hid it well. But, he felt that his brother-in-law deserved an explanation.

"Our parents were married the first time in San Remo," RJ began. "After they divorced, our mother went back there and Robin and I were born there. We lived with our…grandmother, Filomena until we were almost seven."

"You were born in Italy?" Patrick asked his wife.

Robin nodded. There was so much Patrick didn't know; so many things he'd never been told about her or her family. He only knew her parents were dead. He had no idea how, or why, or who was responsible.

"Yeah, we were," RJ confided. "Long story short, our parents re-married years later. Sean and Jamie came along and then…"

"Then your parents died," Patrick finished.

RJ had picked up on the fact that maybe Patrick didn't know much of anything about Robert and Anna Scorpio beyond the fact that they had died when he and Robin were almost fourteen. He decided then that it was Robin's decision to tell him the whole truth or not.

"So, I don't get it," Patrick thought out loud. "Who would send you a post card from San Remo? _Why_ would they send it?"

"That is exactly what I wanted to find out," RJ began to explain. "So, I packed up and went to San Remo."

Robin's eyes widened. "What did…what did you find?"

"A mystery," RJ said. "I started at the most obvious place. I went to where Grandma used to live. All I found was an…an abandoned home with nothing inside. I tried to track down Maria, her cousin, but when I hit a dead end by asking around town, I went to their version of city hall. I checked the records, Robin, and there was no record of a Filomena or Maria Soltini ever having lived there."

"How is that possible?" she questioned.

"I wish I knew," RJ answered. "My whole trip was like that, one dead end after another. Finally, I just gave up and came home. I landed at JFK yesterday afternoon."

"I don't understand why any of this is important," Patrick said. "I mean, and I don't mean to sound indifferent or…or insensitive, but your parents are dead. Why is one post card with a strange message in it so important?"

The moment of truth had arrived for Robin. It was time for her to divulge her lies of omission.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

/

"I'm not sure where to start," Robin said quietly.

"Start what?" Patrick wanted to know.

Robin rested her hand on his knee. "Start telling you the truth."

RJ stood and headed into the kitchen to grab another beer while Robin began the story.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Patrick," she offered. "There things you don't know about my family and about what being a Scorpio means. San Remo is…close to the beginning of the story."

Patrick chuckled as RJ came back into the room. "You make it sound so serious."

Robin met his gaze. "It is. I never thought you'd really _need_ to know most of it, but…that damn post card tells me that maybe you need to know everything, starting with who our parents were and why they were…why they were murdered."

Patrick's dark eyes widened in stunned disbelief. "Murdered? Your parents were…were murdered? I thought they died in a car accident or something."

Robin nodded. "You've never outright asked me what happened to them, so I've never had to tell you the truth."

Patrick ran a hand through his dark hair. "So, why now?"

RJ pointed to the post card. "That's why. Someone is playing with us, with _me_. Eventually, they'll start playing with Robin and maybe even with the people we care about. We're telling you now because now you _need_ to know."

"So, you've lied to me all this time?" Patrick asked of his wife.

Robin shook her head. "No, I've never told you an outright lie. I've omitted things."

"Robin, lies of omission are still lies," he spoke. "So, I'm going to ask now; how did your parents die?"

Robin took a deep breath. "They were murdered. My parents were WSB agents, and in 1992 one of their enemies…murdered them."

Patrick didn't know what he had expected, but that wasn't it.

/

Patrick's head was spinning. It was nearly two in the morning and he was in possession of facts he would previously have only thought possible in a James Bond film. His wife and brother-in-law had just laid out a spy novel for him, yet it was their life.

"I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this," Patrick almost whispered.

"Which part?"

Patrick glared at RJ. "_All_ of it. Your parents were spies for the WSB. Marriages, divorces, re-marriages and explosions and people coming back from the dead; it's all…it's all _crazy_."

"It's all true," RJ told him. "Every last word."

"This…this Faison guy, is he…is he still alive?"

RJ and Robin answered together.

"No."

"We don't know."

Patrick stood and wiped his hands over his face. "Which is it?"

"Mac shot at the boat Faison escaped onto in the harbor," RJ explained. "It…exploded. He and Luke Spencer saw it happen. Neither of them saw Faison get off the boat before the explosion. We're…reasonably certain he's dead this time."

"Yet we have that post card," Robin said. "It's obviously a taunt. Faison loves to taunt people."

The three went back and forth for another hour. Patrick asked questions and Robin and RJ answered as best they could. Finally, at just after three in the morning, RJ left the Drake home and headed back to his own apartment to get some sleep before his shift.

/

"You know things, don't you?" Patrick asked in the dark as he and Robin lay in bed.

"What do you mean?" she asked sleepily.

Patrick shifted. "Well, I mean, your parents were spies. I'm guessing you know how to…pick locks maybe?"

Robin laughed softly. "Yes, I do know how to do that actually. My father taught me and RJ when we were…eight, maybe."

"What else can you do?"

These were things she wished she could have kept to herself. She didn't want to completely destroy his illusions that she needed protecting. But, he asked and she had decided that when he asked, she'd give him the truth.

"My parents began teaching RJ and me hand-to-hand when we were nine," she told him. "By eleven we were both familiar with about…six different martial arts and proficient in all of them."

That intrigued Patrick. "How about now?"

Robin looked him right in the eyes. "I…Patrick, do you really…"

"…yes, I want to know," he interrupted.

She sighed. "I'm very, very good at hand-to-hand and martial arts now. I probably know more ways to…to kill someone with just my bare hands than Jason does. RJ is even better than I am."

"Kill? But, Robin, you're a _doctor_, a healer, not a killer," Patrick intoned passionately.

Robin rolled onto her side and rested her head on Patrick's chest. "I want you to listen to me. Yes, I know how to kill someone with just my hands. Yes, I know how to handle numerous types of firearms and how to use them with deadly accuracy. Yes, I can pick locks and get into most any room I want. None of those things make me any less the woman you married."

"What does that post card really mean?" he asked then.

Robin didn't want to think about the possibilities. "I would have said nothing until RJ mentioned that our grandmother's entire existence has been wiped clean in San Remo."

He pulled her closer. "Is it…Faison?"

"I hope not," she replied. "If it is, the devil himself is coming to Port Charles."

A chill went through the Drake's then. They snuggled closer and let sleep claim them. Despite all that had been covered that night, they had to make Christmas morning special for Justin and Emma.

They could worry about the post card another day. Or so they thought.

/

_**Maracaibo, Venezuela**_

_**WSB Medical Facility**_

_**August, 1996**_

/

"_It's been more than four years, Doctor Weston," Sean Donnelly began. "Haven't you had enough time?"_

_Dr. Amelia Weston glared at her boss. "No, Mr. Donnelly, I have not had enough time. They were both gravely injured and I cannot simply wake them up as if nothing happened."_

_Sean sighed. "Keep me posted."_

_He stormed from the room while Dr. Weston went back to monitoring her patients._


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

/

**Christmas Morning, 2008**

/

It was mid-morning when RJ and Jesse stepped into Kelly's. Mike smiled when he saw the two cops, Jesse in uniform and RJ in black jeans, white t-shirt, boots and black jacket.

"Merry Christmas RJ, Jesse," Mike called out. "You fellas like some coffee?"

RJ sat down heavily on a stool at the counter and nodded. "Coffee sounds like a dream right now, Mike. Thanks."

"Some pancakes too, Mike," Jesse ordered. "And some bacon. Oh, and some…"

Mike chuckled. "I'll make you the works, Jesse."

The young man smiled gratefully. "Thanks."

Mike turned to speak with the cook while Jesse tossed his cap on the counter. A waitress set two steaming cups of coffee in front of each man. RJ took off his gloves and wrapped his hands around the mug.

"That feels good," he whispered. "I think my fingers are frozen."

Jesse laughed as he sipped his own coffee. "You could have been with Robin, Patrick and the kids today."

RJ nodded as he turned around in his seat. He noticed it had started to snow lightly. The postcard and the events in San Remo had begun churning in his head. Faces of people long gone flashed before his eyes.

"Hey, RJ, foods here," Jesse said, pulling the older man from his thoughts.

"Can I ask you a personal question, Jesse?"

Jesse nodded.

"How do you feel about Maxie? Really feel?"

Jesse swallowed heavily, and then turned to look at his friend. "Why do you wanna know?"

Rather than answer the question, RJ asked another. "How much do you know about the Scorpio family?"

Jesse shrugged. "Not much. I mean, I know Maxie isn't Mac's biologically. I know Robin, Sean, Jamie and you lost your parents a long time ago. I know her cousin BJ died and Maxie has her heart."

RJ sighed. "Let's finish up and head back out. I need to tell you some things; things you're gonna need to know if you care about my cousin as much as I think you do."

/

"Where did Sean, Jamie and Justin go?" Patrick asked his wife as he came down the stairs.

"They're out in the garage tinkering on the motorcycle you bought Jamie," Robin told him. "Did Emma go down quietly?"

Patrick collapsed on the sofa beside her and nodded. "Yeah, she did. She was completely wiped out from the morning's activities."

Robin leaned against Patrick, her head resting on his strong shoulder. "I'm exhausted. We were up entirely too late talking last night."

Patrick kissed her cheek. "I get the feeling there is still so much you need to tell me."

Robin chuckled. "Maybe. Everything inside me wants to believe that Faison died in the harbor all those years ago. But I keep…"

"You keep what?

She shook her head. "RJ has great Scorpio instincts. He's also got enough Spencer influence that his gut is rarely wrong. He went to San Remo because he thinks there is something to this mystery."

"What do you mean by Spencer influence?"

Robin smiled. "After our parents died, RJ…he and Uncle Mac haven't ever really gotten along very well. The first night after they told us, we all stayed with Bobbie and Tony. But, about a week later, we went with Uncle Mac. RJ ran away. He left a note for Uncle Mac. It said that he understood that Mac wasn't a bad guy but he couldn't live there with him."

"Why would he think Mac _was_ a bad guy?" Patrick wondered aloud.

"When Uncle Mac first came to town, he wasn't the most…upstanding of individuals," Robin revealed with a small laugh. "He and my dad got into it a lot. Dad even had Mac arrested for trying to kill him."

"Wow."

"Anyway, over time they reconciled, but RJ still held a lot of mistrust where Uncle Mac was concerned," she continued. "So, he ran away and he refused to live with Uncle Mac. Uncle Mac didn't want to rock the boat, so RJ spent the next year or so with Bobbie and Tony. Then Luke and Laura returned to Port Charles and RJ was fascinated with our father's best friend. We'd heard so many stories from Dad that…RJ had a huge case of hero worship. Luke was only too happy to meet the eldest son of Robert Scorpio. Uncle Mac hated it and tried to force RJ home with us."

Patrick laughed. He knew his brother-in-law. "Let me guess; RJ ran away again?"

Robin nodded. "Yep. He snuck out the second floor window, shimmied down the trellis and knocked on Lucky's window at just after one in the morning. Uncle Mac never tried again to bring RJ home. He spent the next five years living in the Spencer home."

Patrick was thoughtful. "I never knew any of that about your brother."

Robin shrugged. "We Scorpio's hold things pretty…close to the vest, I guess you could say. Even when Luke and Laura split up after Stefan Cassadine came to town, RJ stayed close to Laura and Nik. I always wanted RJ to be with us, but I was also always happy he had people he trusted to look after him. He came over a lot and he spent time with me, Sean and Jamie all the time. We went to the same schools and everything, but…"

Patrick cleared his throat. "But it wasn't the same as if he still lived in the same home."

Robin nodded as she snuggled closer to her husband in front of the roaring fire.

/

RJ and Jesse were sitting on a bench looking out at Spoon Island as a light snow continued to fall. RJ had just spent the last hour and a half explaining the Scorpio family history to Jesse.

"Wow," he finally managed. "I…really, I had no idea."

RJ smiled. "Most people don't."

Jesse shook his head. "What's the deal with Spoon Island and that castle out there?"

RJ laughed. "Sometimes I forget that you're still relatively new in town. Um, it's kind of a long story. Luke and Laura got married in November of 1981, but she was kidnapped by the Cassadine's in early 1982."

Jesse's eyes widened. "And she lives out there now?"

RJ nodded. "Different Cassadine lives out there from the one who had her kidnapped. Anyway, Stavros Cassadine had her taken and forced her to marry him. In 1983, she had Nikolas. Long story short, Luke found out she was alive when she showed up here in Port Charles just after he'd been elected mayor."

"How'd she escape?"

RJ shrugged. "The Cassadine that lives out there, Stefan, helped her. Stavros was his older brother but they hated one another. So, when Stefan found out that Luke was alive, he told Laura and she left the island where she was being held. Stavros and his mother, Helena, were gone at the time."

"They let her get away, just like that?"

RJ laughed. "Hardly. Stavros followed her here to Port Charles and had a confrontation with Luke. Stavros was killed. Laura told Luke about her son back on the island. Luke agreed to go get him. When they got there, they found Stefan badly injured. He'd been shot. I remember Nik telling me once that Laura and Luke saved Stefan's life and he agreed for them to take Nik and run so they could keep him safe from Helena."

Jesse was puzzled. "So, how did they go from Luke and Laura to…Laura living out there with a Cassadine?"

RJ smiled. "Well, until Stefan Cassadine came to town when Nik was thirteen, no one knew that Nik even _was_ a Cassadine himself. Luke didn't even know. According to Lucky and Nik, Luke thought Nik was the son of a…stable boy or a servant or something. The whole damn town was surprised to find out that bit of info."

"So, the one that kidnapped her, Stavros, he…he raped her or…"

RJ nodded. "Well, yeah, he did but…turns out that Laura and Stefan had fallen in love, and Nik is actually his son. When he showed up here, he was still in love with Laura and he wanted to get to know Nik. They were all upset that Laura had lied, but…Nik had always known that Luke wasn't his father so when Stefan showed, Nik was curious. That was the first step, Nik wanting to know his biological father. Eventually, Luke and Laura's marriage broke down and when she basically admitted in open court that she was still in love with Stefan and she'd been with him the night of Katherine Bell's murder, it was over. They divorced and she eventually married Stefan. Laura and Luke had joint custody of Lucky, Ethan and Lulu, but Laura had sole physical custody, so they all moved to Wyndemere after the wedding. Lucky spends the most time with Luke of them all, but...even he admits that things are better at Wyndemere. Stefan isn't like other Cassadine's. He's…normal."

"This town has some crazy stories, man," Jesse finally decided.

RJ laughed. "Yeah, it sure does."

"But, what does all this Cassadine nonsense have to do with that postcard and your family?"

"Well, the tie lies in the Ice Princess," RJ explained. "Remember I mentioned it earlier?"

When Jesse nodded, RJ continued. "Luke, Laura and my father basically foiled Mikkos Cassadine and his brothers Victor and Tony's plans to freeze the world using the Ice Princess and some crazy weather machine. Port Charles was plunged into a blizzard during summer. Mikkos was killed by Luke and my father. Tony was killed when he tried to stop Mikkos and Victor…Victor disappeared. Basically, I'm not sure that Faison is behind that postcard at all. Like I said, I think he's dead. I _pray_ he's dead. I think there's a chance the Cassadine's are involved in this; Helena and Victor. They have a grudge against my family as well as Luke."

Jesse seemed to think about that.

"What are you gonna do?"

RJ shrugged. "I don't know. Robin thinks I should tell Mac."

"Maybe you should," Jesse agreed. "Maybe you should also tell Luke. I mean, after what you said Helena and Faison did to Lucky, he might want to know."

RJ pondered that as both men stood to continue on their patrol.

/

_**Maracaibo, Venezuela**_

_**WSB Medical Facility**_

_**January 1997**_

/

_WSB Head Sean Donnelly walked into the exam room and stopped dead in his tracks. Finally, after nearly five years, Robert Scorpio and Anna Devane-Scorpio were awake and sitting up on their exam tables. It was a day he had longed for since he'd first been informed of their survival of the boat explosion._

_He looked at Dr. Amelia Weston and then back at Robert and Anna. _

"_Do they…are they aware…of anything?" Sean asked haltingly._

_Dr. Weston turned to her patients. "Please excuse me. There are some things I must discuss with Director Donnelly."_

"_Of course, Doctor," Anna said in her soft British accent._

_Weston led Sean out of the room and down the hall to her office. "Have a seat, Director."_

_Sean sat down with a deep sigh. "What's the deal, Doctor? They look healthy."_

_Dr. Weston nodded. "Yes, physically they have come a long way in recovering from their injuries. However, they are both suffering from retrograde amnesia brought about by traumatic brain injury. Neither remembers anything from before the explosion. They each have minimal memory of washing ashore and being brought here five years ago."_

_Sean wiped his hands over his face. "Nothing? They don't remember being married, their kids, family, nothing at _all?"

_Dr. Weston took a deep breath. "No, Director, nothing. We've done extensive testing. You must understand, Robert and Anna were both very badly injured. Their head injuries were the worst I've seen in my nineteen years of medicine. We're going to have to keep a very close eye on them as they begin physical therapy. I expect things like headaches and I'm certainly watching for seizures in them both."_

"_Will either of them ever…will their memories come back? Will they ever be able to function as WSB agents again?"_

"_I cannot honestly answer that at this time, Director," she replied. "I will say this; they have a long way to go."_

_Sean didn't like that answer, but he took it and walked out_.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

/

**Drake Residence**

**December 31, 2008**

/

Robin was putting on the brand new pair of earrings Patrick had bought her for Christmas when she heard glass shattering from down stairs followed by gunshots.

"Patrick! Get Emma and Justin!" Robin yelled as she ran to the bedside drawer and pulled out a Beretta M9 from the drawer. She quickly unlocked the ammo box sitting beside the weapon and grabbed two clips.

"Patrick!" she yelled.

"Robin, I got the kids!" he yelled back.

Robin breathed easier then and focused on getting to her bedroom window.

"Just stay down!" she yelled to Patrick.

She leaned against the wall and took a quick look outside. It was fairly dark outside but she did see a black van and she could make out the muzzle flashes from the ongoing gunfire. Just as she took a deep breath, she noticed Patrick, holding Emma to his chest, and Justin, slink into the bed room on their knees.

"I told you to stay _down_!" she yelled in a whisper.

Patrick's heart was beating so fast he could barely speak. "We are down. We just…came up here."

"Give me your shirt," Robin ordered, ignoring his words. "Come on, now."

Patrick ripped off his shirt and tossed it to her.

"Justin, crawl to the closet and pull out the box," she instructed her son.

Justin moved quickly and came back to his mother within moments with a medium size box with a lock on it. He pulled a key from his pocket and opened the box.

"What do you need, Mom?"

"The NVD," she ordered.

Justin gave her the night vision device and Patrick watched her don it quickly. Then she wrapped her left hand in Patrick's shirt and in a scene Patrick would have thought impossible, rammed her hand through the glass, breaking it and she began returning fire on the gunman below.

Patrick and Justin ducked instinctively. The NVD gave her a clear picture of the shooters. There were four, all armed with automatic weapons. Robin fired off five rapid shots from her handgun, taking down three of the gunman, and then she hit the floor as gunshots came into the bedroom.

She crawled across the floor to her husband and children. "Patrick, I need you to take Justin and Emma downstairs to the pantry. Go inside and reach under the second shelf, left-hand side. You're gonna feel a button. Push it. It's gonna open a passageway down to the catacombs beneath the city. I need you to take the kids and hide in there."

"I'm not…I'm not leaving you, Robin," Patrick spoke through his fear.

Robin nodded. "Yes, you are. One of us needs to protect Justin and Emma. I know how to shoot these weapons, you don't. Now go!"

He hated it, but Patrick did it.

/

RJ was headed to see his sister when he heard gunfire in the distance. He immediately stopped his motorcycle and jumped off. Robin and Patrick's home was just around the corner.

He grabbed his gun and began running down towards the shooting when he heard a truck engine. He dove into the bushes and watched as a black truck sped past him. He made out two men in the cab and three more in the back. He pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open, pressing speed dial 4.

"_Morgan."_

"Jason, its RJ. There's gunfire at Robin and Patrick's," he said without preamble. "I can still hear shooting and a black truck just sped past me with five more occupants. Can you get your men over here now?"

"_Done. ETA, two minutes. Hold them off till we get there."_

RJ hung up and then dialed Mac and told him the same thing he'd told Jason. After that, he resumed his running towards Robin's home, praying with everything in him that she, Patrick and the kids weren't already dead.

/

Robin spared a quick thought of thanks on the fact that she hadn't yet put on her dress for her night on the town with Patrick. She was still in sweats and a t-shirt. She'd wanted to get her earrings and makeup done before she'd dressed.

She knew she still had ten rounds in her first clip. She took a deep breath and crawled back to the window and carefully and slowly stood. She dared a peak outside and was rewarded with more gunfire. She waited for the tiniest of breaks and then thrust her hand out the window in the direction of the gunman and fire off seven more rounds before quickly ducking again.

It was then she realized that RJ should be arriving. He had been going to babysit Justin and Emma while she and Patrick went out. Now she said a quick prayer that her twin brother didn't walk into an ambush.

/

"What do we do now, Dad?" Justin asked Patrick.

Patrick's hands were trembling. He wiped sweat from his forehead.

"You and Emma are gonna wait here," he said. "I'm going back to help your mother."

Justin's dark eyes widened. "You can't. You'll…you can't!"

"Where do these catacombs lead?" he suddenly asked Justin.

The boy took a deep breath, trying to push his fear down. "Um, all over basically. They run beneath nearly the entire city. There's only a few exits though and I don't know them all. Lucky and Nik know them all."

Patrick nodded. "Okay. Look, you take Emma and stay right here. Don't move an inch. When it's safe, your mom and I will be back for you. We'll knock three times. You hear this passageway open without any knocks, you take your sister and you run to an exit you know. From there you find a cop and tell them what happened."

He handed Emma to her big brother then and looked at both kids. "I love you, Son. I know you can take care of Emma. I know you can."

Tears escaped Justin's eyes. "I love you, Dad. Always."

Patrick kissed his children and then headed back to the firefight, praying with everything in him that Robin was still alive.

/

RJ could see muzzle flashes as he came up to the house slowly. He stayed out of the line of fire as he used the trees and bushes as cover on the side of the house. He knew there was a loose grate that might let him into the basement. He lay flat out on the ground and crawled to the grate.

Carefully, he pulled on the grate. Nothing. He pulled again. Again. Finally, it gave way and RJ slid himself through, falling into the basement of his sister's home. He stood and ran up the stairs. Just as he opened the door which came out in their huge kitchen pantry, he saw the door that led to the catacombs open. He aimed his gun and was just about to squeeze the trigger when he saw his brother-in-law.

"Patrick!" RJ gasped. "Where are the kids?"

Patrick turned and pointed. "Down…Robin had…made me take them down…catacombs."

RJ nodded. "Okay, good. They'll be safe down there. No one knows about the entrance here. Listen to me, Patrick. Where is my sister?"

Patrick pointed up. RJ looked, not really expecting to see Robin. Then they both heard three gunshots from a handgun.

"She's…she's shooting back," Patrick gasped.

RJ smiled. "That's my spitfire. Okay, listen to me. I called Jason Morgan. He and his men should be here any second. I called Mac, so the cops will be here soon too. I need you to stay in here; maybe even go back to the catacombs."

Patrick shook his head. "No way. I'm going to find my wife and help her."

RJ's eyes blazed in anger. "You hear me, Patrick Drake and hear me good. You're no good to me here and no good to Robin. I doubt you've ever even held a gun in your life, let alone know how to fire one. You'll be in our way, that's all. If we're all gonna get out of here alive, you need to stay out of the way."

RJ turned then and took a deep breath as he heard more gunfire. He shoved the pantry door open, arm raised and he squeezed the trigger as he ran through the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Francis Amoretti, one of Jason's men coming in from the backyard. He nodded in acknowledgement as best he could as he hit the livingroom and dove to his belly.

"RJ?" he heard his name.

He looked up and saw Robin crouched at the top of the stairs. "Yeah, Robbie, it's me. Jason's men are here to, and probably the cops by now. You good?"

"Yeah, I took out three of them, and then five more came. I wounded two of them for sure and possibly a third," she reported.

RJ nodded and looked around from his position on the floor. "Okay. We're not surrounded, which is good. Francis was coming in from the backyard. These morons are only firing from the front."

"That doesn't make any sense," came Francis' voice as he crawled up next to RJ.

"They're trying to pin us down," Robin interjected.

RJ agreed. "Yeah, but for what? What's coming that's worse than this?"

Gunfire erupted again.

"Ah!"

"Patrick!" Robin yelled.

Robin and RJ both recognized Patrick's voice.

RJ looked up and saw Robin begin to rise.

"No!" he yelled at her. "Stay where you are!"

RJ turned and shimmied on his belly towards his brother-in-law. Patrick had taken a bullet and had fallen in the doorway between the kitchen and the livingroom. RJ took stock of the wound as best he could in the dark and was assessing the situation when he saw Jason peak through the door.

"How bad?" he asked as he handed RJ a headset.

RJ shrugged. "Can't tell in this darkness. But we need to get him out of here."

Jason nodded. "I'll take him. Mac's team just pulled up outside. He knows I'm in here. They're returning fire, but whoever these guys are, more just showed up. Johnny and I counted thirteen."

"Shit!"

RJ looked down at Patrick. His eyes were starting to close. RJ nudged him. "Come on, Doc. Keep your eyes open. Can you tell me how bad this wound is?"

Patrick coughed. "Stomach."

"Fuck! Okay, Francis, can you get him out of here? He needs a hospital."

Francis crawled over to them and came to his knees. He grabbed Patrick as best as he could and made his way out with him.

"What now?" Jason asked.

RJ shook his head and put the headset on. "Command, this is Scorpio."

Mac's voice answered. "RJ, sitrep."

"Three of the gunman are KIA and three, possibly two others wounded. Jason and Francis made it inside. Francis is on his way out the backyard with Patrick. He's wounded in the abdomen. Kids are in the safe zone."

Mac breathed a small sigh of relief at knowing Justin and Emma were in the catacombs.

"Okay, my team is positioned to the right of the gunmen," Mac reported. "Jason's men are in the back and to the left of them. Some of them are engaging us, others are continuing to fire at you."

RJ tried to think. He had an idea, but it was crazy. "Mac, you got any explosives with you?"

"Yes," Mac answered. "You got something in mind?"

"Yeah. Neighborhood is cleared, right?"

With the affirmative, RJ continued. "I wanna blow the house."

/

**Port Charles General Hospital**

**Emergency Department**

/

The doors from the ambulance bay slammed open.

""What do we got?" called Dr. Steven Webber, the ER Attending.

"GSW to the abdomen. It's Doctor Drake!"

Steven overcame his shock quickly and his team went to work stabilizing Patrick so they could get him to surgery.

/

"You wanna what!?" Mac screamed.

RJ actually laughed. "You heard me, Mac. I wanna blow the house sky high, but I want these gunmen inside first."

There was silence for almost a minute before RJ heard Mac's voice again. "Okay. We'll get the explosives in to you. You and Robin are gonna have to rig them yourselves."

"Jason can help," RJ replied.

"Nichols is bringing them in to you now."

/

RJ looked up at Robin. "Can you rig these upstairs?"

Robin nodded as another spray of gunfire assaulted them.

Jason pulled a bag of explosives with him and quickly crawled up the stairs to Robin. He handed her the bag and followed her while RJ stayed downstairs.

RJ took his collection of C4 and began quickly wiring the livingroom. He then moved to the back wall of the livingroom and pressed a button beneath the china cabinet. A panel opened on the wall and RJ reached in and pulled out an assault rifle.

He quickly readied the weapon and began crawling towards the front door. The front windows had long since been blown out and the door had numerous bullet holes in it. RJ rigged the weapon on its stand and set it to fire in six minutes when he sent the signal. He hoped his plan worked. If it didn't, he, Robin and Jason were dead. Everyone else outside would be too.

"RJ, you ready?" Robin called from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, we're good down here," he replied calmly. "I set the AR-15 for six minutes."

"Can you fire it from the catacombs?"

RJ didn't know. If the signal was strong enough, it would fire. If not, then it wouldn't. He hoped it wouldn't matter.

"I don't know," he told her. "Come on, they've stopped again."

Robin and Jason slowly crawled down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, Jason practically covered Robin's body with his own as they all three headed for the kitchen.

"Mac, we're on the way to the kitchen," RJ reported. "You best get your men and Jason's clear. There's gonna be a big bang in about three minutes."

Mac nodded to himself. "Roger that. We're backing away now. You three hurry. When these guys see us backing off, my bet is they storm the house."

"Roger," RJ replied. "Look, if this doesn't work, I…I just wanna say…to tell you…"

"It's okay, kid, I know," Mac told his nephew softly. "I love you, too."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

/

**Drake Residence**

**January 1, 2009**

/

Mac had been right. The moment the gunmen assaulting the Drake house noticed that the police were backing away, they headed for the house, weapons firing in all directions. Mac saw the front door swing open and an assault rifle began firing at the gunmen as they reached the door. He watched several of them fall, dead. Others made it into the house.

Mac closed his eyes and prayed.

/

**Sean Scorpio Residence**

**1322 Elm Street, The Waterfront**

/

Sean was awakened from a deep sleep by the sound of an explosion. His first instinct was to reach for the gun under his pillow. He gripped the weapon as he climbed from his bed and went to his window that overlooked the harbor. When he didn't see anything in that direction, he opened his front door and ran down five flights of stairs and to the back of the building.

From the back of the building, Sean could see flames rising into the night sky followed by two more explosions.

"Those are coming from out in Queen's Pointe," another tenant of the apartment building said.

Sean panicked. "My sister lives out there."

Without thought, Sean ran back upstairs and pulled on his leather jacket and boots. He stashed his gun back under his pillow and grabbed his car keys.

He had to get to Robin.

/

_**Drake Residence**_

_**Just Before the Explosion**_

/

_Robin activated the door to the passageway to the catacombs and the three of them basically dove through and sealed the door behind them just as they heard the first explosion. The foundation beneath their feet shook badly and the Earth above their heads began falling into their hair. _

"_Justin!" Robin yelled. _

"_Mom!" the teen yelled back. "We're back here!"_

_The trio raced to Justin and Robin took Emma in her arms and breathed a big sigh of relief that her children were safe. _

"_Mom, where's Dad?" Justin questioned. _

_RJ kneeled before his nephew. "Listen buddy, when your dad came back upstairs, he was…he was shot. Okay, but Francis, you remember him?"_

_Justin nodded. _

_RJ smiled. "Good. Francis got your dad out of the house and he was taken to the hospital and I'm sure Dr. Webber and the surgeons are patching him up right now."_

_Just then a second and third explosion went off above them. _

"_We should head further away from the house," Jason said. "This part of the catacomb might give way under all these blasts."_

_RJ stood and led the way deeper into the tunnels. "Robin, when we were kids, didn't we find an entrance to the catacombs here in Queen's Pointe, near the water?"_

_Robin nodded slowly. "I don't…wait, yeah, we did. Well, Lucky and Nik did. It's in the holding basin over on Tanner Street. You have to climb up the access shaft, and then walk out through the tunnel."_

_RJ stopped walking and looked around. "Which way were we facing when we came down here, Jase?"_

_Jason thought for a moment. "South. With the direction the house faces, when we climbed down, we headed south."_

"_Why does that matter, Uncle RJ?"_

_RJ smiled. "It matters because that holding basin is west of your house, buddy. Now we know which way to walk to get the hell out of here."_

_Justin smiled and followed his uncle_.

/

The fire department was working on extinguishing the blaze when Sean's car skidded to a stop and he jumped out. He immediately spotted Mac and ran in his direction.

"Uncle Mac, what the hell happened!?"

Mac turned to Sean and let out a breath. "Your sister's house was attacked tonight by masked and heavily armed gunmen."

Sean swallowed the bile rising in his throat. "Were…are…are they dead?"

Mac shook his head. "We don't know. I don't think so. You know about the catacombs beneath the house, right?"

When Sean nodded, Mac continued. "RJ was coming to babysit Justin and Emma and he happened upon the first shooters. He managed to get inside the house with Jason and Francis. RJ had the brilliant idea of luring the gunmen inside and then blowing the house while they escaped down into the catacombs."

"Did they make it before it blew?"

"We won't know that until the fire is out and as you can see, and then we have a lot of bodies to identify," Mac explained. "I hope so. Listen, you need to know, Patrick was shot."

Sean ran a hand through his dark blonde hair and sighed. "Oh, God. Who did this? _Why_ would someone do this?"

Mac didn't know what to tell his nephew. "I wish I had an answer to those questions."

Both Scorpio men stood together as they watched Robin and Patrick's house burn to the ground.

/

"Here, this is it," RJ called. "This is the access shaft. We just need to climb up and we're home free."

Emma began to cry in Robin's arms. The baby was tired and hungry and scared.

"Why don't you guys stay here," Jason suggested. "I'm gonna climb up and make sure the coast is clear."

RJ nodded before turning his attention back to his sister, niece and nephew. "When we get topside, I want you to take Justin and Emma and go to Luke's house. Tell him what happened. He'll…"

"No," Robin interrupted. "No, I'm going to GH. I have to know how Patrick is; if he's…"

RJ reached out and tenderly grasped his sister's face in his hands. "You listen to me; Patrick is tough, okay. I know he's a doctor and all this crazy Scorpio-spy stuff isn't his thing, but...I think after today it might have to be."

Robin wiped away a tear.

Justin stepped next to his mother. "He'll be fine, Mom. You'll see."

Robin smiled at her son and kissed Emma, who was finally calming down.

"It's clear!" they heard Jason yell from above.

RJ nodded. "Okay, Justin, you're going up first. Robin, you follow. Can you climb with Emma or do you need me to take her?"

"I can take her," she said immediately. "Give me your jacket."

RJ took off his jacket and watched Robin rig a carrier for Emma.

"Okay, here we go," RJ then said. "Justin, you're up, buddy."

Justin climbed up the ladder quickly, followed closely by his mother and sister. RJ stayed behind a bit and looked around. He could smell smoke, which meant that the entranceway to the catacombs had probably been breached in the blasts. He knew the fire department would be trying to contain and put out the fires. His mind was already running through all possible scenarios of who the shooters were hired by, and why.

"Faison, Cassadine's unknown, or…"

"RJ, you coming?!" Jason yelled down.

RJ shook away his thoughts and began the climb to the surface.

/

**Former Drake Residence**

/

"Commissioner Scorpio, there's something you should see," one of his officers called.

The fires were out. It was nearing five AM, hours since the incident had begun. Mac was weary, Sean was frustrated and the entire neighborhood was angry they had been ordered to leave the area.

Mac motioned for Sean to go with him. Together they walked into the rubble of the home where Patrick and Robin had lived. They made it to the area where the kitchen pantry had been.

Sean smiled as soon as he saw it. "That's RJ's badge, Uncle Mac. He left it here."

Mac smiled too. "They made it. They made it out."

Behind them they heard a siren. As they turned, they saw a police SUV stop and out climbed a filthy, tired-looking RJ and Jason.

Sean broke into a run, headed for his brother. When he reached him, he threw his arms around the older man.

"I am _so_ glad to see you," Sean whispered.

RJ hugged his brother tight. "Me too, man."

Mac came up and shook Jason's hand. "Thank you for your help."

Jason knew Mac didn't like him or his activities and would happily send him to prison if he had any evidence of anything. But, he also knew Mac was sincere in his thanks. There was nothing more important to Mac Scorpio than the safety of his family.

"You're welcome," Jason returned, gripping his hand firmly before letting go. "RJ, call me if you need anything."

RJ nodded and watched Jason walk away.

"Where's Robin and the kids?"

"When we crawled out of the…sewer, into the holding basin, we flagged down a police car. Officer Daniels was driving. He took them to GH to check on Patrick."

RJ looked around the rubble of the house and shook his head. The houses on either side of Robin's had fire and water damage.

"What a mess," he said. "I don't see…ah, too many…bodies."

"We're gonna need dental records to identify them, if that's even a possibility," Mac told his nephews.

"I'm not interested in who they are, Mac," RJ intoned harshly. "I wanna know who hired them and why. I wanna know who I have to go after to…"

"You're not going after anyone," Mac told him strongly. "We're going to work this case just like we would any…"

Suddenly RJ grabbed Mac's arm and practically dragged him away from the scene; out of earshot.

"This isn't just _any_ case, Mac," he said in a low voice. "Someone hired men to come to Robin's house and _kill_ her, and probably me, too. We need to find out who and why and then take them out, and I have a place to start."

"What do you mean?"

Sean walked up them. "You know something about this, big brother?"

RJ sighed and ran a hand through his dirty hair. "No, but I have a place to start looking. Look, find Jamie and the three of you come to my apartment later. There's something I need to…that you need to see."

Mac and Sean each had a thousand questions, but RJ had already walked off in the direction of where his motorcycle had been left so many hours before.

/

**Port Charles General Hospital**

**Patrick's Hospital Room**

/

Robin was sitting by Patrick, his hand held in hers as he slept. When she'd arrived, she'd been assaulted with questions over how Patrick had been shot. She'd explained as quickly as she could to Steven and then went up to his room to wait for him to wake up.

"Hey, how are you doing," Elizabeth Webber asked softly as she entered the room.

Robin gave a small smile. "Okay, I guess."

Elizabeth sat down on the other side of Patrick and picked up his hand and held it the same as Robin.

"When I was doing my clinicals and I got to my surgical rotation, Patrick was…the biggest, arrogant jerk I'd ever met," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "I understood why you kept your distance."

Robin smiled. "And now?"

Elizabeth smiled as well. "I consider him one of my very best friends. He's…been a terrific teacher in the OR."

Robin lifted his hand and softly kissed his fingers.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Robin took a deep breath and told the tale; the whole tale about her parents and who they were, why they were murdered and by whom. She told Elizabeth about the postcard and the puzzle piece. She told her how Patrick was shot.

"Wow," was all Elizabeth could say. "Do you…were the shooters hired by this Faison guy?"

Robin could only wonder. "I don't know. I wish I did. Then I'd know who to go after."

Elizabeth laughed gently.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Robin. "Where did Emma and Justin end up? I…"

"Steven took them both down to the day care," Elizabeth told her. "I hope you don't mind, but Lucky took them home with him when he came to get Cam and Jake."

"No, I don't mind at all," Robin said. "They're safer with a Spencer than anyone else. I wish Patrick would wake up."

"He's so lucky, Robs," Elizabeth told her. "That bullet took the perfect path, if there is such a thing. He lost a lot of blood, but there really wasn't too much damage; some muscle damage and the broken rib are about it. He won't miss his spleen."

Robin nodded. "I was…I was so scared I'd lost him, and now when he wakes up and realizes the family he married into is…I might lose him anyway."

"No…no way, baby," Patrick gasped so softly the ladies barely heard him.

"Patrick?" Robin called. "Can you hear me?"

He gave a small nod and squeezed both hands. Robin leaned down and kissed his lips while Elizabeth kissed his cheek.

"I'll let you two alone," she told the couple before getting up and leaving the room.

A few tears escaped Robin's dark eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay. I thought…"

Patrick squeezed her hand tighter in his.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered. "I've got way too much to live for."

Robin, carefully avoiding his wound, crawled into the small bed with him and rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed deeply when she rested her hand over his heart and felt the strong beat beneath her hand.

"Who…shooters, who…" he tried to talk, but the drugs were making him so sleepy.

Robin shushed him gently. "We'll talk about that when you're more awake."

She softly rubbed circles over his chest, calming him back into a sleep. She knew there were hard decisions in their very near future and that their family, her family would be at stake in the end.

/

**Undisclosed Location**

/

"Sir, Robin Scorpio, her children and her brother..."

"Yes?"

"They are alive, Sir," a man said. "They escaped our gunmen as well as the resulting fire."

The man had barely finished speaking before a quickly fired bullet hit him right between the eyes. He crumpled to the floor, dead before he hit.

"You should not have failed me."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

/

After speaking with Robin and finding out how Patrick was doing, RJ had showered and was now dressed in sweats and a t-shirt. He had let his sister know that he was going to let Mac and their brothers in on the postcard, as he was sure it was somehow connected to the shooters at her home.

He was sitting on his sofa drinking a cup of coffee when his doorbell rang. His eyes wandered to the locked front door and then back to the postcard on his coffee table. He wiped his hands over his face before standing and walking to the door.

Ever cautious, RJ had his gun in hand as he slowly opened the door.

"Hi honey, I'm home," a dark-haired woman said as she stepped through the door and wrapped her arms around RJ's neck.

/

Mac, Sean and Jamie were on their way to RJ's apartment in Mac's car. Jamie had been found in his dorm room at PCU. He'd gone back to school early to work on a project which was due when the new semester began.

"So, what exactly is this all about, Uncle Mac," Jamie asked as he sat in the backseat.

Sean turned around and locked eyes with his younger brother. "Robin and Patrick's house was shot up this morning by lots of masked gunmen and then burned to the ground."

Jamie's eyes widened and teared-up immediately. "Are they…?"

"No, they're fine, and so is RJ," Mac explained. "He was supposed to babysit Justin and Emma while Robin and Patrick went out. He arrived just after the shooting started. They all managed to get out alive."

Jamie took a deep breath. "Thank God for that."

Sean nodded. "Yeah, so now we're headed to RJ's because he thinks he might know what's going on."

/

RJ was too stunned to move. A woman he hadn't seen in five years had her arms wrapped around him and standing quietly behind her with his arms around her legs, was a small boy with dark blonde hair and blue eyes.

Shaking off his shock, RJ stepped out of her embrace and pulled back to stare at her. "What are you doing here, Erin?"

Erin Lavery smiled. "I wanted to see you, and…"

RJ ran a hand through his hair and interrupted. "You can't be here. Okay, I have…you just can't be here right now."

Erin reached down and picked up the boy and glared at RJ. "I thought you might want to meet your son."

RJ snickered. "Shouldn't you be on Aidan's doorstep instead of mine?"

Erin pushed passed him and into the apartment. "He's not Aidan's. He's yours."

RJ slammed the door. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I have the paternity test in my hands."

"You don't believe me?" she challenged.

RJ shook his head. "No, I don't. So, look, my uncle and my brothers will be here any minute. We have things to discuss, privately, so you need to leave."

Erin was angry. "RJ, I need…"

He held up his hands. "I don't care right now, Erin. I have other things that need my attention."

Her dark eyes flashed. "Your _son_ needs your attention."

RJ sighed deeply. "Where are you staying?"

"I have a room at some place called Kelly's," she told him.

"Fine, I'll come by tomorrow morning and we can go to GH and have paternity test done," he informed her. "When it shows that I'm not the father, I'm calling Aidan and you can tell him the truth."

Still challenging, she spoke. "Why would I try to pass Aidan's kid off as yours?"

RJ shrugged. "I really have no idea, Erin. Why are you here five years after we last saw each other? If…what's his name?"

Erin smiled at her little son. "Cooper. Cooper Jonathan Scorpio."

RJ's eyes flared. "You gave him my name?"

Erin smirked. "Well, he is yours."

RJ threw his hands up. "Okay, whatever. Tomorrow morning, hospital, paternity test, call Aidan. Those are my terms. Now, you and Cooper have to go."

Erin allowed herself and Cooper to be escorted from his apartment then and RJ was thankful they were gone by the time Mac, Sean and Jamie showed up five minutes later.

/

An hour later, RJ had told them about the postcard, puzzle piece and what he thought it meant. Mac, Sean and Jamie were stunned.

"What makes you think this isn't Faison?" Mac questioned as he paced the room.

"He's dead, Mac," RJ responded. "You and Luke saw that boat blow. He's _dead_. This is…this is something…some_one_ else. I can…I can feel it."

"But, Faison was dead before," Jamie said bluntly. "He came back. Is it so impossible he's done it again?"

RJ stood then as well. "I…maybe I just want so much to believe that he's dead, I'm not willing to accept that…"

"That he might very well be alive," Sean finished. "What are we gonna do? Robin's home was shot up. She and Patrick and the kids could have been killed. You could have been killed."

RJ nodded. "See, that's another part I don't understand. Faison wanted Mom and Dad; Mom for himself and Dad dead. He never came after any of us. We didn't matter to him. So, what's changed? If it's him, what's changed?"

"Well, Mom and Dad are dead, for one thing," Sean pointed out. "Maybe he just wants to end our whole family."

The three of them shared a look that spoke of many emotions; anger, frustration, nervousness and no small amount of fear.

/

**The Following Morning**

/

RJ had just had his mouth swabbed for the DNA test to be run on him and Cooper. Now he was sitting beside Patrick.

"How ya feeling?"

Patrick shrugged. "Tired and in some pain. Mostly I feel lucky to be alive."

RJ smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know that feeling. Listen, I came by because I wanted you to know that whatever is happening here, whatever's gonna go down, it's gonna be bad. I can feel that in my bones. Whether it's Faison, or Cassadine's unknown, or…the boogeyman, it's gonna be a battle and it's gonna be fierce. So…"

Patrick stared at his brother-in-law. "So, what?"

RJ met his stare. "So, I'm letting you know that you're either going to have to go all in and learn to defend yourself, or you need to get out of the line of fire."

"I'm not getting out of the line of fire while Robin and our kids are directly in it," he insisted.

RJ nodded. "I figured that would be your answer. So, once you're out of this dump, we'll start your training."

Patrick frowned just as Robin walked into the room. She walked to her husband and gave him a tender kiss.

"Hey, Robbie," RJ greeted his sister. "You are just in time."

"Time for what?"

RJ grinned. "I was just telling Patrick that once he's cleared to leave this dump we're gonna start his training. Martial arts, close quarters hand-to-hand, weapons…_everything_."

Robin looked at Patrick. They shared a meaningful glance before Robin spoke. "Are you okay with that?"

Patrick nodded. "Yeah, I am. No more secrets, Robin. I need to…and want to know everything. I have to feel like I'm able to help when the chips are down."

Robin brushed her fingers against his before he threaded them together. "You're going to be learning things…things that go completely counter to your life as a doctor."

He cleared his throat. "I understand that. Will these things give me a chance to live and protect the people I love?"

Robin nodded as tears gradually began to fall from her eyes. "Yes, they will; with deadly accuracy."

RJ stood and quietly left the room. He knew his sister and brother-in-law needed to work things out between them. He was glad Patrick was so accepting of what was to come for him. He just hoped that the reality of those things didn't hit him later. Robin would be devastated if Patrick ever left her. RJ also knew that when push came to shove, Robin was a Scorpio first. She'd sacrifice her marriage to Patrick if it meant eliminating any threat to the Scorpio family.

/

"How many different types of weapons can you use?"

Robin laughed. He asked the craziest questions out of nowhere. "Why do you want to know?"

"So I know how many I have to learn."

She thought for a minute. "I guess…fifteen, maybe twenty. Handguns, semi-automatic and automatic weapons; my father made sure we all knew how to use them safely and with…"

Patrick grinned. "Deadly accuracy?"

Robin nodded. "Yes. Three in the chest, one in the head."

Patrick knew he would never be completely comfortable with guns, knives or violence in general, but he was willing to learn to protect their little family.

"Does Justin know…?"

"Yeah, he does," Robin answered, knowing the question without it being asked. "RJ took him to the gun range the first time when he was eight. He's pretty good with a handgun and a rifle."

They talked for a while more before Robin kissed him softly on the lips and then went back to work.

Patrick rested in his bed, his mind churning and his heart a whirl of emotions.

/

RJ arrived home and immediately saw a blank envelope on the welcome mat outside his apartment door. He picked it up and unlocked his door, shutting it tightly behind him and locking it.

He sat down heavily on his couch and opened the envelope.

_This is a freebie for you. San Remo was the wrong place to look_.

RJ flipped the postcard over and saw a city near the water, but didn't recognize it off hand.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "Another fucking mystery."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

/

**Three Weeks Later**

/

Patrick was finally being released from the hospital. He had just finished pulling his t-shirt down when his door opened and Robin entered. Patrick's eyebrows rose when he saw how she was dressed. He'd never seen her in military-style pants tucked into combat boots with a black sleeveless top tucked into the pants.

"Wow, you look kind of…sexy," he said, smiling devilishly. "What's the occasion?"

Robin smiled as she kissed him gently and rested her hand on his abdomen where he'd been shot. "Well, Dr. Fisher says your physical therapy has gone so well that you're cleared for some moderate physical…exertion."

Patrick's eyes lit up.

Robin laughed. "Not _that_ kind of exertion. We're going to the gun range."

Patrick sighed. He rested his hands on the bed. "I have to tell you, I'm not completely comfortable with…guns."

Robin wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his solid chest. "I know you aren't. You don't…you don't have to do this, Patrick. You can…"

He pulled back. "I can what? Walk away and leave you and our kids in the line of fire? I'm not doing that. I'll…I'll find a way to deal with this."

Robin wanted to believe that Patrick could find a way to deal with guns, bombs and fighting. She knew that if he couldn't it would tear their marriage apart.

/

**Luke's Club**

/

RJ walked into the darkened nightclub and headed right for the bar.

"Hey Detective," Claude called out.

RJ smiled. "Claude, how many times have I told you to call me RJ?"

The bartender smiled. "If you're looking for Luke, he's in his office."

RJ nodded as he headed for the back of the club. He knocked and stepped inside when Luke called out.

"Well, well, if it isn't Robert Scorpio, Jr.. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

RJ sat down and, without preamble, placed the most recent postcard on Luke's desk. "I'm hoping you're good at geography. Can you tell me what city that is?"

Cigar in mouth, Luke picked up the photo and took a look. RJ could see recognition cross his face in minutes.

"Where did you get this?"

Condensing where he could, RJ told Luke everything; the postcard, puzzle piece and the shoot-up at Robin's.

"This one came three weeks ago," he explained. "Obviously my trip to San Remo was a bust. Maybe this place will yield better results."

Luke blew out some smoke. "Maybe you should leave this one alone, Junior."

RJ leaned back against his chair. "Luke, you know I can't do that. Someone tried to kill Robin and the kids. Someone is baiting me. I have to figure out who, and why so I can end it. Now, where is that?"

Luke didn't want to tell him. He didn't want to open Pandora's Box and he was sure telling RJ would do just that.

But he did it anyway. "It's Athens, Junior. Athens, Greece."

RJ's eyes got wide in shock. "That changes things."

"How so?" Luke wondered.

RJ sighed as he stood up and began pacing Luke's office. "Mac and Robin think its Faison. Sean and Jamie think so, too. I told them…I told them this _felt_ different and now I know why."

Luke stood as well. "Listen, Junior, this…I don't know if Faison is dead. When Bubba and I shot at that boat and it exploded, we wanted to believe we'd gotten the bastard, but…who knows. He's worked with the Cassadine's before."

RJ remembered Lucky's kidnapping years ago. Faison and Helena Cassadine had taken Lucky and made his family and friends think he was dead. By the time he'd been returned, he'd been brainwashed. It had taken years before Lucky was recovered, but he was never the same. That whole debacle is what had led to the shooting and explosion in the harbor that was believed to have finally killed Faison.

RJ faced Luke. "What would the Cassadine's want with my family? Besides Helena, who's left of them? Stefan is not a threat."

Luke indicated for RJ to sit down as he did the same. "What do you know about your own family history?"

RJ frowned. "What do you mean?"

Luke turned to his safe and quickly opened it. He thrust a file at RJ. "Take a look. Your old man made me promise only to give you this in…well, this qualifies."

RJ flipped the file open and the first thing he saw was a photo of a newborn infant clipped to a birth certificate.

"Who is this?"

"Read the certificate," Luke instructed.

_Alexios Alexander Liakos_

"I don't get it," RJ said. "Who's Alexios Liakos?"

Luke took a deep breath. "Your father."

/

Patrick and Robin had been at the range for three hours. Patrick had made some progress, but he still was not a very good shot.

"I'm never going to be able to do this," he told her.

Robin nodded. "Yes, you are. You've already improved from when we started."

Patrick took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go again."

Robin moved to stand next to him. "Here, relax your grip. You're holding the gun too tightly. When you tense your muscles too much, it throws your aim off."

Patrick did as he was told and when he fired again, he hit the target square in the chest on four of six shots.

Robin laughed. "See, you can do this. Great shots."

Losing some of his tension, Patrick laughed too. He leaned down and kissed Robin tenderly on the lips. "I think I'll always have reservations about this, but…it feels good knowing I'll be able to help protect you and the kids."

Robin smiled. "You'd be surprised how many doctors are employed by the WSB. They all know how to fire weapons and are extremely proficient in hand to hand combat. This really isn't all that uncommon."

"Can't wait for that training," he quipped. "But for now, how about we take a break? Go get some lunch and see the kids?"

Robin agreed and the two of them headed off.

/

"What the hell are you talking about?" RJ asked as he continued flipping through the file.

He came across more photos of his father as a young boy with a woman RJ knew was not his grandmother Patricia Scorpio. He saw his father in photos playing in water he knew was the coast of Australia.

"You gonna tell me what the hell this means?"

Luke nodded and took another puff on his cigar. "A few months before your father took off after Anna and Faison, he'd been in Greece."

RJ nodded. "Yeah, I know. He was there on a mission."

"Well, he stumbled across some…interesting information. The first bit was that birth certificate and those photos. They were given to him by a man named Christos Melonakos, an alias for Demetrios Cassadine."

"Never heard of him," RJ said. "Who is he?"

Luke smiled. "A bastard son of Mikkos Cassadine, born very shortly before the old man kicked the bucket courtesy of yours truly and one Robert Scorpio."

RJ's mind was awash in theories and suspicions, none of which were pleasant.

"How would a Cassadine have this info?" RJ questioned. "Better yet, _why_?"

"Well, that's where it gets really tricky," Luke said. "Your dad spent the last weeks of his mission tracking down as much information about Alexios Liakos as he could. Everything he found is in that file I gave you. The trail ended when young Alexios was three years old."

"What happened when he was three?"

"That's when Alexios Alexander Liakos was adopted by Xavier and Patricia Scorpio," Luke revealed. "They left Greece the next day and Alexios Liakos was reborn in Sydney, Australia as Robert Xavier Scorpio."

/

**Undisclosed Location**

**Same Time**

/

"Sir, there is a Ms. Larisa Liakos to see you," the guard informed his boss.

"Send her in, please."

An older woman entered the room. The man stood.

"It is…good to see you again, Larisa."

The woman with blonde hair and striking blue eyes, smiled. "There is no need for false pleasantries, Victor. You are not happy to see me, nor am I happy to see you. I have come for the truth. I want to know what happened to my son after you gave him away."

Victor Cassadine, second son of Matthias Cassadine, frowned. "Why do you ask me this now? It has been…many years. You have never expressed an interest before."

Larisa sat down. "I wish to know, Victor. You and I both know who my son was, why he was important. I want to know his fate."

Victor sighed as he sat as well. "The family I selected, they were Australian but of Greek ancestry. They had an infant son when I met them; Malcolm, I believe his name was."

"That does not tell me where he is now."

"Larisa, I tried to protect you from my family, from Mikkos," Victor began. "Had Mikkos ever discovered…you and your child would have been killed. I took him from you and sent him away to protect him. Do you truly believe that the danger is gone? My wretched sister-in-law Helena still lives. She will stop at nothing to make certain she controls all Cassadine business and that means eliminating any and all threats to her."

"I understand that Prince Nikolas is not actually a prince at all," Larisa said. "He is the son of Stefan Cassadine, your second nephew. What threat remains? Does she not have control since young Nikolas is not the heir?"

Victor nodded. "Yes, she does, and I aim to keep it that way. I will tell you this. Your son has a family, children and grandchildren. If Helena discovered the truth, they would all be in danger."

Larisa stood then. "Perhaps now is the time to reveal the truth. If my son and his eldest son come forward, we can end this. Helena will have no power."

With that, Larisa Liakos turned and left Victor Cassadine's office. He simply hadn't had the heart to tell her that her son had died long ago at the hands of a madman. He'd been kept safe from the Cassadine's who meant him harm only to fall against a man obsessed with his wife.

He picked up his glass and downed the last of his Scotch. "To you, Robert Scorpio, my nephew, may you rest in peace."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

/

**February 3, 2009**

**PC General Hospital**

/

RJ was pacing the halls of the hospital outside the lab. Erin and Cooper were seated.

"Will you sit down, please?" Erin asked him; irritation obvious in her tone.

RJ glared at her. The last place he wanted to be was in the hospital waiting to find out if he was a father. His mind was whirling with the implications of his father having been born in Greece and a Cassadine having that information.

He took a deep breath and sat down just as the doctor came out of the lab. RJ again jumped up.

"Well?" he questioned. "Is he mine, Doc?"

The doctor looked down at the results then back at RJ and Erin, who had come to stand next to RJ.

The doctor could see the impatience in the young man. "To a percentage of 98.8 percent, yes, Cooper is your son, Detective Scorpio."

Erin smiled while RJ sighed and hung his head. His life had just gotten much more complicated.

/

Sean was already in the gym loosening up when Robin and Patrick walked in. Both were clad in sweats and tank tops.

"Hey guys," Sean greeted. "Ready to kick some ass, Pattycakes?"

Robin chuckled at Sean's nickname for her husband. "Yeah, he's ready."

Patrick didn't look too sure, but he nodded.

"Have you ever punched someone before?" Sean asked.

Patrick shook his head. "Not since high school."

"Okay, well, first things first then," Sean began. "Normally martial arts are for defense first, and even though Robin and I are gonna teach you how to attack; you'll still be using this as defense. If someone is coming at you, the best place to be is somewhere else."

Patrick nodded, unsure.

Sean bent his knees a bit and settled on the balls of his feet. "Come at me, as hard and as fast as you can."

Patrick shrugged. He was taller than Sean by a bit and figured with the shorter man crouched he might have an easier time.

He charged at Sean, left arm reaching in a punching motion as he neared him. Sean easily sidestepped Patrick, grabbed his arm at the wrist and flipped Patrick as if he weighed nothing.

Patrick landed on his back with a sickening thud. He grunted upon impact. "Oh, that hurt."

Sean laughed. "It's called Aikido. It's a…blending of the attack and the defense. We're taught to redirect the force of the attack rather than oppose it directly. In class we use throws and joint locks to subdue an opponent without injuring them."

Patrick stood and worked out some kinks in his back. "Don't I want to injure them?"

Robin stepped forward then. "Incapacitate them, not injure them. Now, sometimes injuring them will be your only option. That's when other martial arts come in. You'll learn to punch and kick as well as block those types of attacks."

Thus began a long day of physically demanding training exercises. Patrick was amazed as he watched his wife and her younger brother spar. He was even more amazed when he was the recipient of Robin's tactics. She was fast, strong and very agile.

Once more Patrick was pressed to the floor, the joint lock employed by Robin quite effective.

"Damn, that really hurts," Patrick whined.

Robin laughed. "It's supposed to. You're doing so well."

"I don't feel like it," Patrick said as he again stretched. "I just feel…beat up."

Sean laughed as he took a drink of water. Robin wrapped her husband in a hug and rubbed his back gently.

"You've done amazing today," Robin assured him. "You might not feel like you're progressing, but you are."

Sean agreed. "Yeah man, you pick this stuff up quick; you just gotta…let yourself feel it. Let the movements become a part of you, an extension. Don't make it so…jointed. It has to be fluid."

The three of them practiced for another few hours. Just before sunset, Patrick caught Sean in a perfect joint lock on his wrist and forced the younger man to the floor.

"Yes!" Robin yelled. "You did it!"

Patrick scooped her into his arms and spun her around. He was ecstatic.

Sean stood and gave his brother-in-law a high-five. "Great job, man. You're gonna get this. I guarantee it."

"How about we go grab some dinner?" Patrick asked as they gathered up their belongings.

Robin nodded. "I'd love to. We need to go get Justin and Emma from Uncle Mac and Aunt Felecia first."

"I can't guys," Sean said. "Luke has Lulu tonight and I sort of…promised her I'd go have dinner with them."

"Tell them both I said hello," Robin told her brother, completely missing the confused look that crossed Patrick's face.

/

After receiving the news that he was a father, RJ sent Erin and Cooper back to his apartment and told Erin not to leave until he got back. Then he'd left the hospital and wandered around for hours. He'd watched Sonny and Jason's men unload a huge shipment of coffee. He'd walked along the river and gazed into St. Mark's Cemetery in the direction of his parents' memorial, but he hadn't gone to them.

Now, he suddenly found himself standing in front of the home he shared with his parents and siblings for way too short a time; less than a year from his parents' remarriage to their deaths. Now it belonged to Mac, Felicia, Maxie and Georgie.

Memories of that time flooded his mind. He remembered watching Australian rules football with his father, helping his mother wash the dinner dishes, running through the sprinklers with his little brothers and playing with Friday with Robin.

Just as RJ had shaken himself out of his reverie, he heard his name being called form the porch. He turned and smiled when he saw his cousin.

"Hey Georgie," he said as he walked up the driveway and stepped onto the porch.

Georgie wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tight. RJ hugged the thirteen-year-old back for a few minutes before pulling back.

"What are you doing here?"

RJ sighed. "Is Mac here?"

Georgie nodded. "Yeah, he's inside. Come on."

RJ followed Georgie inside and was immediately met with the sight of Mac sitting in his lounger watching television.

"Hey," Mac called as soon as he saw his nephew.

RJ cleared his throat. "Hi. Um, listen, I…I need to talk to you. Can we…"

Mac jumped up. He could count on one hand the number of times his eldest nephew had come to him with a problem. He certainly wasn't going to turn him away when he did.

"Let's go to my study," Mac said and led the way.

Once inside, RJ sat down and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Mac questioned as he sat down behind his desk.

RJ leaned forward and began. "I'll keep it short. Do you remember five years ago when I took that leave of absence from the PD and went to Pennsylvania?"

When Mac nodded in the affirmative, RJ continued. "I ended up in Pine Valley. Of course, the first person I ran into was Ryan. The last person I wanted to see was a Lavery."

Mac chuckled. RJ had never hidden his distrust and dislike of Duke Lavery, even when his mother Anna had been married to the man.

"Anyway, I met his sister Erin the same day," RJ continued. "Long story short, we…well, you know. But she was involved at the time with some crazy British ex-special forces guy named Aidan. I walked away, told her there was no way we could be anything together."

Mac nodded. "And?"

RJ took a deep breath. "She showed up on my doorstep a month ago with…"

Mac waited patiently.

"With a four-year-old boy," he finished.

Mac eyes widened. "Is he…is he yours?"

RJ nodded as he ran his hands through his hair. "Yeah, he is. We got the results of the paternity test this morning. I've been…I've been walking around this damn city for hours trying to figure out how Dad handled two kids showing up on his doorstep out of the blue. I don't…someone is targeting our family, Mac, and I can't have a kid caught in the middle."

"Do you even _want_ to be a father to this boy?" Mac asked delicately.

RJ shrugged as he stood and began to pace. "I don't know, Mac. I…yeah, I guess so. I've had less than twelve hours to even process this and I have so many other things to think about right now. Speaking of…"

He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Mac. "I got another postcard a few weeks ago. It's in there. I took it to Luke and he identified the city and gave me all of the papers in that envelope."

Mac opened everything and laid it out on his desk. RJ sat back down and waited for his uncle to process the information.

"I never…our parents never said anything," Mac almost whispered.

"Yeah, well, I'm guessing it might have been imperative that everyone involved kept their mouths shut."

"Where did Spencer get this?" Mac asked.

"Said Dad gave it to him for safe keeping," RJ replied. "Told me that Dad made him promise he would only give it to me if circumstances warranted me having the information; whatever that means. Anyway, Luke said with the shooting and the postcards and everything going on, this qualified as the circumstances warranting it."

"Did he mention where your dad got it?"

RJ nodded. "Yeah, that's another weird thing; said Dad got it from some guy named Christos Melonakos which is an alias for Demetrios _Cassadine_."

"Never heard of him," Mac remarked.

RJ snickered. "That's what I said to Luke. He told me that Demetrios is the youngest son of Matthias Cassadine, Mikkos' father. Apparently he was born just before Matthias kicked the bucket."

"An unknown Cassadine," Mac said to himself.

"Yeah," RJ confirmed. "I just don't…I don't get it. Someone, a Cassadine, knew Dad was adopted, and by whom. But that file stops with my grandparents' arrival in Australia. There's no name other than that Larisa Liakos on the birth certificate. Why would any of this be of interest to a Cassadine?"

Mac sighed. "I hate to say it because you know how I feel about him, but…Luke is probably the best person for these questions. He knows the Cassadine's inside and out. I'm willing to bet he has some theories. You just have to ask him."

"I have a few theories myself, and none of them are pleasant," RJ said.

"Such as?"

"That guy, Demetrios Cassadine, I can't think of one reason why he would have cared about Dad, or given him this info unless…"

He let it hang, and Mac picked up immediately. "Unless he might be your Dad's…father."

"Exactly," RJ agreed. "But then I started thinking about that too. If Demetrios was Matthias' youngest son, then why would it have mattered if he fathered a son himself? Why didn't he just tell Dad the truth then and there? The first son of the fourth son doesn't mean anything in the Cassadine hierarchy. Alexios, my father, would have been safe. By birth order, he was a nobody, presumably. But then something happened when he was three and he was given away. What was that one thing? That's what I keep asking myself."

"Got an answer?" Mac wondered.

RJ nodded. "Yeah. Demetrios wasn't his father, but he knows, or _knew_ who was. I didn't think to ask Luke if he knows if this Demetrios is still alive. Anyway, all of my theories lead to one conclusion; I think my dad was born a Cassadine."

/

Patrick and Robin were enjoying a nice dinner with Justin and Emma at the MetroCourt.

"How was school today?" Robin asked her son.

The young man shrugged. "Okay, but I hate having the guards around."

"Guards?" Patrick questioned as he looked over at Robin. "He has guards?"

Robin tried to hide her grimace. "Yes, he does."

Patrick put down his fork. "Employed by whom, may I ask?"

Justin looked back and forth between his parents. "Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the guards."

"No, it's good that you did," Patrick said. "I'm your dad; I need to know these things."

Robin sighed. "They work for Sonny. While you were in the hospital, Sonny and Jason asked if they could do anything to help. I asked…I asked them to watch Justin and Emma."

"Emma too?"

Robin nodded. "Yes, when she's in the hospital daycare or with a babysitter, she has guards outside, always watching. I…_we_ can't take any chances."

Patrick noticed how she started to say I, and not we. She was trying to handle everything on her own, and he didn't like it.

"Okay, look, we'll talk about this later," Patrick decided. "Let's just enjoy dinner as a family."

/

Justin and Emma were both asleep when Patrick sat down on the bed in their suite at the MetroCourt next to Robin.

"When were you gonna tell me about the guards?"

Robin sighed. "I don't know that I was."

Patrick was stunned. "What? You weren't gonna tell me at _all_?"

Robin turned to face him. "I don't know. Patrick, I…I need you to understand something for me. Can you do that?"

He nodded.

"When that shooting started and I knew you and the kids were in the house, I…I've never been that scared, Patrick," she began. "I wasn't scared for me. I knew exactly what to do and I knew that I could do it. But you and Justin and Emma, you have no protection. Yes, Justin knows how to shoot, but he's thirteen years old. Emma is a baby, and you…I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Patrick pulled her into his arms as he saw tears begin to fall. "You're not gonna lose me, Robs. I promise."

She wiped her eyes and nodded. "That's why the guards. I _have_ to make _absolutely sure_ that our children are protected. The PCPD likes to do things by the book. They're all good cops, RJ, Lucky and Jesse in particular. But Sonny and Jason's men, they'll shoot first in defense of Justin and Emma and not stick around to answer the questions. That's what I need for them. Something bad is coming, Patrick; something so bad it's going to tear this town apart and my family is at the center of it. Someone is coming for the Scorpio's."

Patrick kissed her forehead and rubbed her back gently. He didn't know what to say to ease her fears.

Or his own.

"None of us are going to be safe."


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

/

**The Following Morning**

**RJ Scorpio's Apartment**

/

RJ was standing in the doorway of the second bedroom in his apartment watching Erin and Cooper sleep. When he'd returned home the night before she'd wanted to talk. His mind had been too consumed with other things, so he'd sent them to bed and had retreated to his own room shortly after. He knew they needed to talk, and there were things he needed to tell her, but…

"How long are you going to stare?" Erin's sleepy voice called out.

RJ snickered. "Not long. Get up; we need to talk. Meet me in the livingroom when you're dressed."

"Wait," she called out as she stood. "When did…I don't remember you having tattoos."

RJ nodded. "It's been five years, Erin. Things change."

She moved closer to him and reached out and gently ran her finger over the tattoo on his left shoulder. "I like this one. What is it?"

RJ wasn't immune to her touch. A small shiver ran through his body. "It's a Phoenix; a mythical bird that dies…and rises from its own ashes to live again."

Erin smiled. "It's you."

RJ shook his head. "No, it's my family. We've risen from the ashes before, and we'll do it again. It's part of what you and I need to talk about; what I need to tell you. So, get dressed and…we'll talk."

He turned around and walked away before she could say another word.

/

Patrick and Robin had both rested uneasily and were now slowly getting ready for the day. Justin had already been taken to school and Emma was still asleep in her crib.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," Patrick said as he worked on his tie.

"What's that?" Robin questioned as she pulled her scrub top over her black turtleneck.

"Why would your brother promise to have dinner with Luke Spencer and his daughter?"

Robin's hands froze in the act of dressing. "Why would you ask me that?"

Patrick sighed as he sat down on the hotel bed. "I just have this…funny feeling that you and RJ have answered the questions I've asked, but…"

"But what?" she questioned as she sat next to him.

"But I feel like if I don't ask the question, you won't tell me anything," he finished. "And if I don't ask the _right_ question, I won't get the true answer. So, I'm asking; why did Sean promise Lulu Spencer to have dinner with her and Luke?"

Robin took a deep breath. "He promised Lulu because she's…she's his half-sister."

/

By the time Erin had come into the livingroom, RJ had changed from his sweatpants into jeans and he'd put on a t-shirt.

"You didn't have to dress on my account," Erin quipped as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"What made you decide to come here?" RJ asked her.

Erin shrugged. "I thought you should meet your son."

RJ shook his head. "No, you didn't. It's not that simple, Erin, and I know it. Tell me the truth. Why did you come here with Cooper?"

He could see she was afraid of something. He reached out and took her hand in his. "Listen to me, Erin. I need you to be honest with me, about everything. I can't protect you if you don't tell me the truth. Now, please, why did you come here? Why now after five years?"

A few tears slipped down her cheeks. She walked back to the bedroom and quickly came back with an envelope in her hands. She handed it to him.

"There," she said. "That's why I came. I left the Fusion offices late one night and went to pick Cooper up from his babysitter. I felt…I don't know, I felt like someone was following me the entire time. I grabbed Cooper and practically ran into my apartment building. When I got to the door, that envelope was on my doorstep."

RJ felt his heart begin to race as he opened the envelope.

/

"His…his sister?" Patrick stumbled. "How…how is that even…possible?"

"Luke is Sean's biological father," Robin revealed. "I'll make this quick; long time ago Luke was engaged to a woman named Holly Sutton. Luke was believed to have died in an avalanche and then Holly found out she was pregnant shortly after. My dad and Holly fell in love and got married. Dad was going to raise Sean as his own. Luke came back, got pissed off that his woman and his best friend hooked up. Dad and Holly stayed married, moved to Australia and had Sean. Luke ran for mayor, won, and discovered that Laura was alive. They left town together to go get Nik and then Holly died in a plane crash when Sean was four. Dad and Sean came home; my mother took over the role of mother for Sean. So, there you have it. Sean is a Spencer by birth, but a Scorpio in every other way."

Patrick didn't know what to say. Robin hadn't even taken a breath in all of that. "Wow."

Robin laughed slightly. "Yeah, I know. It's a lot more complicated than that, but in a nutshell, that's what happened. Luke was so angry he couldn't see straight and he didn't want any part of the baby then. I remember years later, not too long before my parents died, my dad had spoken to Luke on the phone and Luke told him that he regretted the decision to stay out of Sean's life. By the time Luke and Laura came back to Port Charles, my parents were dead and he and Laura had Nik, Lucky and Ethan."

"Has Sean always known the truth?" Patrick wondered out loud.

"Not always," she said. "I think he was about eight when our parents told him about Luke. He always knew that Holly was his biological mother and that she was dead. But the Luke revelation wasn't easy for him. For starters, Luke wasn't even here. He wasn't someone Sean could seek out for answers. That came later."

Patrick cleared his throat. "I doubt that was an easy conversation for either of them."

Robin shook her head. "No, it wasn't. Sean had always had a curiosity about Luke, which was understandable. So, when Luke and Laura showed up, Sean want to Luke for the answers he wanted. Luke gave them to him; told him why he made the choices he did and that while he regretted some of them, letting his son grow to love and respect Robert Scorpio would never be something he considered a mistake."

"What happened after that?"

"Sean came home," she said. "He told Uncle Mac where he'd been and that he'd had a nice chat with Luke. Remember, Sean was only…ten or so when all this happened. Uncle Mac was angry at first. But, then Luke came to Uncle Mac one day and told him that he had no intention of doing anything. Sean was always going to be a Scorpio. It's been that way ever since, until about six years ago."

"What happened six years ago?"

/

RJ pulled a photograph of Cooper out of the envelope. It looked recent. He flipped it over and he saw words that chilled him to the bone.

_Such a beautiful little prince_.

"Did you see anyone around? Anyone who could have left this?" RJ asked when he recovered enough to speak.

Erin shook her head. "No, there wasn't anyone there; just that envelope and the picture of Cooper inside it. I was…I got so scared and I just…I packed enough for the two of us for a few days, took Cooper the next morning and drove here to you."

RJ stood and ran his hands through his messy hair and over his face. "I need to go see some people about this. I want…got get Cooper ready to go. I've gotta get you both somewhere safe."

"Safe?" she asked. "What are you talking about? Why aren't we safe here?"

RJ grasped her upper arms in his hands. "Erin, I do not have time to explain right now. Please, go get our son dressed. We have to leave. Now."

Erin ran to the room and proceeded to do as RJ said.

RJ grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number he knew by heart.

"_Spencer."_

"Luke, it's RJ," he began. "I need you to meet me on the docks by the launch. We gotta go out to Wyndemere."

"_Thirty minutes okay?"_

"Fine," he acknowledged. "Thanks."

"_Sure, Junior."_

RJ hung up just as Erin and Cooper walked into the livingroom.

"We're ready," Erin stated.

RJ grabbed his wallet, Erin's car keys and a NY Yankees baseball cap off the coffee table and headed for the door. He grabbed a black PCPD hoodie and put it on and tossed one to Erin. Cooper already had a jacket on.

They hustled out of the apartment and into Erin's car. She quickly strapped Cooper into his child safety seat and then got into the passenger side of the car. RJ threw it into gear and sped off towards Harborview Towers.

"Where are you taking us?" Erin asked as they sped along Harbor View Drive.

"Somewhere you'll both be safe from what's coming," he answered, already thinking ahead.

"What _is_ coming, RJ?" Erin demanded. "Do you know who left that photo of Cooper? What does that note on the back mean?"

Instead of answering her, he asked a question of his own. "When you found out you were pregnant, did you tell anyone? Did you mention _my_ name to anyone? Anyone at all?"

Erin shook her head. "No, no I didn't…I didn't tell anyone, not even Aidan. I left Pine Valley not too long after I found out and I only came back maybe a month or two ago. Tell me what's going on, RJ. You're freaking me out right now."

He sighed as they pulled into the underground parking lot at Harborview Towers. He shut off the car and turned to face her.

"Listen to me; there…there are a lot of things I need to tell you, but they're gonna have to wait," he explained. "Suffice it to say, I've gotten a few postcards with cryptic messages on them as of late as well. I have some suspicions as to who's behind it and why, and if I'm right…"

"If you're right, then…what?" Erin asked.

RJ took a deep breath. "Then Cooper could be in a lot of danger."

/

"Six years ago, when he was nineteen, Sean was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia," Robin revealed. "It was a severe case and he needed a bone marrow transplant. Luke, Lucky, Ethan and Lulu were all tested but none of them were a match."

"But he obviously got the transplant," Patrick stated.

"Yeah, just in time too," Robin told him. "He was pretty sick. Luke, the boys and Lulu spent a lot of time with him while he was in the hospital. Lulu got pretty attached. She was only eight then. Anyway, Sean started to spend time with them once he recovered. He'll never claim anyone other than Robert Scorpio as his father, but he has a lot of respect for Luke, and he loves them, like a second family."

Patrick just shook his head. "Your family is…convoluted."

Robin laughed. "Yes, it is. Patrick, I don't mean to hold information back from you. It's not ever my intention to lie, or to tell half-truths. It's very hard for me, for everyone in my family to be open with others, even the people we love."

Patrick wrapped his arm around her. "I know. I just want to be able to protect you and our kids. I feel like I need to be in possession of all the info I can be to do that."

"There is one other thing I should tell you," Robin muttered.

Patrick smiled. "Oh, yeah?"

"Since you know all about Sean, I guess you should know about Jamie, too," she began.

Patrick wondered what she could possibly tell him about his youngest brother-in-law.

/

"What kind of danger?"

"His life, Erin," RJ told her. "His life could be in danger. That's why we're here. The men who live here can protect you and Cooper."

"Why can't _you_ protect us?" she wanted to know.

RJ sighed deeply. "Erin, I need you to understand something. I'm gonna…I'm probably going to be leaving the country in the next few days. Where I'm going…it's dangerous. I need to know that you and Cooper will be safe in case…"

Erin's eyes had tears in them. "In case of what?"

RJ met her stare. "In case…I don't come back."

/

"Jamie's not a Scorpio by birth, either," Robin told her husband. "My mom and stepfather, Duke, had Jamie together. After Duke died, my dad adopted Jamie."

Patrick laughed as he stood. "Like I said, convoluted."

Robin stood as well. "We're certainly an eclectic bunch, that's for sure. Come on, we have to get Emma to the sitter and then go to work."

They both finished getting ready and were out the door hotel door within minutes with Emma.

/

Marco Sanchez, a guard at Jason's door smiled when he saw RJ.

"Hey Detective Scorpio," he greeted.

"Hi, Marco, is Jason in?" RJ questioned without preamble.

Marco nodded, turned and knocked on the door once and cracked it open. "Jason, Detective Scorpio is here to see you."

"Send him in," Jason called.

RJ thanked Marco as he, Erin and Cooper walked into Jason's penthouse.

"What can I…"Jason started, but stopped when he turned around and saw Erin and Cooper.

RJ just nodded. "Yeah, look, this is Erin Lavery, an old…friend."

Jason looked at the boy. "And him?"

"My son, Cooper," RJ revealed.

Jason stared at both the woman and the boy for several long moments before offering all three of them a seat.

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't need something," Jason guessed. "What is it?"

"I need someplace safe for Erin and Cooper to stay while I'm gone," RJ told his friend.

"Where are you going?" Jason wanted to know before he agreed to anything.

"Athens, Greece."

Jason's blue eyes widened just a bit. "How long?"

RJ shrugged. "I don't know. As long as it takes."

Jason knew better than to question any further. RJ didn't question what Jason did and Jason returned the favor. But he knew if RJ was going to Greece, whatever it was, it involved the Cassadine family.

"They can stay here," Jason finally told them. "I'm gonna be out of town myself for a few weeks. The guards can be assigned to the if you need."

"I need," RJ confirmed. "Thanks, Jase."

Jason nodded and excused himself from the room, sensing that RJ needed to talk to his…friend.

"He's a stranger," Erin complained. "I don't like this."

"Would you rather go back to Pine Valley where Cooper could be kidnapped, or worse," he asked her. "Look, I'm trying to protect everyone here. I need for you to cooperate with me. I'm gonna go across the hall and explain things to another friend. He's gonna make sure that you and Cooper are guarded while I'm gone. Please, just…just do this for me. I'll be back tonight."

Erin nodded. RJ stood and she grabbed his wrist before he could walk away. She stood as well and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

"I'm trusting you," she whispered against his lips.

He kissed her back once. "Thank you."

With that, he walked out and across the hall to Sonny's penthouse.


End file.
